No sooner did our news story come out about the supercharged 2010 Camaro Z28 in the August Super Chevy ("Bow Tie Briefs") that we got a call from a panic-stricken source at General Motors.

"The Z28 is dead. Call me back," the message stated.

A little history: In said news article we talked about the late-2010 introduction of the top-of-the-performance-ladder Camaro named Z28. The base V-8 Camaro would be the SS with a 400-plus-horsepower LS3, but for those who wanted to go hunting for Shelby GT500 and GT500KR Mustangs, there was the Z28, which we heard would have a 500-550-horse version of the CTS-V supercharged LS engine. Now we have more information on it: The engine was a supercharged 6.2-liter LSA and it made 550-horsepower. Transmission choices were to be a 6-speed automatic or 6-speed manual. It had a bigger, beefier independent rear suspension to handle the massive quantities of torque and horses.

During durability testing in Arizona this year, the car made 200 dragstrip passes, the slowest of which was a 12.40. Most of them were in the 12.0 range. The plan was to produce 5,000 of them annually--less than what Ford sells of its blown Mustangs.

And now the Z28 is supposedly dead, the victim of political correctness, rising fuel costs and economic pressures. All this happened in the last two weeks. It seems some people at GM think it's not the right time to introduce a 4,000-pound, 550-horse supercar that doesn't get 40 mpg.

Worse, we hear one executive hates the Camaro so much that he'll sign its death warrant after the first year if the car fails to sell 80,000 units (essentially, the car's break-even number).

Originally, there was a $25-million dollar development budget for the Z28, which was made into a $12 million program--no worries. Just de-content the car (less body kit fluff, fewer bells and whistles). While this might seem like a lot of money, in automotive development costs it's nothing, the proverbial drop in the bucket. It's less than some of the empty suits at GM get for their annual bonus. There's no question GM is in dire straits. Fuel costs are rising, the stock price is in the toilet and the company's hemorrhaging red ink. Truck sales are dead and so are the high profit margins that come with them. They are afraid the Z28 might hurt its corporate image further in these "green" times. But the way to battle back isn't killing the cars that people want to buy because the tree-huggers might whine. They're going to whine anyway. Besides, none of them buy Chevys or any other GM product, so who cares?

When was the last time you saw a commercial for a Cobalt, an Aveo or other high-fuel economy product? All I see here is commercials for the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and other Japanese brands.

2. Those who want more excitement in their drive and will get the V-6.

3. People who want a car that "shocks their social network, like Nissan 350Z buyers." Nissan 350Z?

"I didn't once in their report see how they would pull on the car's legacy, like Ford has done with the Mustang," said our source. "They don't know there's a whole market for people who want a weekend car like the Z28 and don't care that it gets 15-20 mpg."

It's time to shock these people into reality. We need to band together and save the Z28, and in doing so, we might just be saving the Camaro. We want to be able to buy a supercharged Camaro. We want to keep the legacy of Chevrolet high performance alive in a new modern automobile. We think 15-20 mpg is great and absolutely palatable compared to our 5-8 mpg hot rods. Most of all, we want to buy a Chevy Camaro, not a Ford Mustang or a Dodge Challenger. Don't force us to defect to other camps.

We did hear from another source at GM that the Z28 is not dead. He said that "every program is on the table, but, frankly, it's premature to post an obituary." He noted that the Z28 could simply be delayed six months. Let's hope. Once upon a time, in the late 1980s, the Mustang was going to be converted to a front-wheel-drive car. There were prototypes running around with Mustang badges on them. There was enough of an outrage from enthusiasts and friends of the car that Ford reconsidered and kept the Mustang rear wheel drive in 1994. (The front-drive car eventually became the Ford Probe.)

Please e-mail me at superchevy@sourceinterlink.com, put "Save The Z28" is the subject line. I'll forward all your e-mails to the appropriate people at General Motors. Together we can save this car. But we have to act quickly. There's no time to waste.

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Worse, we hear one executive hates the Camaro so much that he'll sign its death warrant after the first year if the car fails to sell 80,000 units (essentially, the car's break-even number).

Yeah just go ahead and do that bean counting suit, you prolly killed my chances at a rwd impala. castrate the camaro and i'll cut my bowties so that they form pentastars... at least they seem to listen to enthusiast that want a little performance in affordable packages

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Yeah just go ahead and do that bean counting suit, you prolly killed my chances at a rwd impala. castrate the camaro and i'll cut my bowties so that they form pentastars... at least they seem to listen to enthusiast that want a little performance in affordable packages

Lately it seems that some castration has been going on among GM management. You can't expect a bunch of eunuchs to understand a musclecar.

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Yeah just go ahead and do that bean counting suit, you prolly killed my chances at a rwd impala. castrate the camaro and i'll cut my bowties so that they form pentastars... at least they seem to listen to enthusiast that want a little performance in affordable packages

Oh it's not a bean counter that wants the Camaro dead, this person is a car guy. Zeta will soon be among the dinosaurs when he has his way. True the Fat Lady hasn't sung yet, but she's standing at the mic, with her new gold sparkly dress on and has just spritzed her throat, and is warming up with a rousing chorus of Doh Ray Me Fa.

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Oh it's not a bean counter that wants the Camaro dead, this person is a car guy. Zeta will soon be among the dinosaurs when he has his way. True the Fat Lady hasn't sung yet, but she's standing at the mic, with her new gold sparkly dress on and has just spritzed her throat, and is warming up with a rousing chorus of Doh Ray Me Fa.

No car guy worth his salt would do that.

He and the fat lady should take a hike over to Toyota where they might do some good.

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He and the fat lady should take a hike over to Toyota where they might do some good.

Well it's like I've said, internally the Zeta platform and those that have supported it, have made many, many enemies along the way, but it seems more and more chickens are coming home to roost. The shoe is on the other foot now.

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Well it's like I've said, internally the Zeta platform and those that have supported it, have made many, many enemies along the way, but it seems more and more chickens are coming home to roost. The shoe is on the other foot now.

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Well with management like that, panicking and killing off models enthusiasts have been dying for, this may be a blessing in disguise for Chrysler. They may get even more sales of the Challenger from potential Camaro buyers who were turned away because they weren't important enough to be worth having the car of their dreams sold to them. Guess whose the only other company that can offer a modern,r refined, RWD muscle car?

You know, Chrysler may go under, who knows, but at least if they die they'll go out with pride.

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Well with management like that, panicking and killing off models enthusiasts have been dying for, this may be a blessing in disguise for Chrysler. They may get even more sales of the Challenger from potential Camaro buyers who were turned away because they weren't important enough to be worth having the car of their dreams sold to them. Guess whose the only other company that can offer a modern,r refined, RWD muscle car?

You know, Chrysler may go under, who knows, but at least if they die they'll go out with pride.

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I might get picked on for this, but I think this is the right decision. I love the Camaro, but does it really need that big, stonking engine that is already slated to be in two other vehicles: the Corvette, and the CTS-V?

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Oh it's not a bean counter that wants the Camaro dead, this person is a car guy. Zeta will soon be among the dinosaurs when he has his way. True the Fat Lady hasn't sung yet, but she's standing at the mic, with her new gold sparkly dress on and has just spritzed her throat, and is warming up with a rousing chorus of Doh Ray Me Fa.

Okay, I can see the logic of why a "car guy" may want a 2 ton Camaro, on a very lonely, underused, assembly line dead. The question is, does this "car guy" want to see new and more appropriate Camaro developed?

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I might get picked on for this, but I think this is the right decision. I love the Camaro, but does it really need that big, stonking engine that is already slated to be in two other vehicles: the Corvette, and the CTS-V?

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You never know. There's a group of very dedicated car nuts in Chrysler, who are responsible for such cars as the Charger and Challenger. If they could make a business case for a Rampage I bet they would at least bring out a concept.

I really hope Chrysler can get it's other segment entries together, because if they put the same effort into them as the Challenger/LX cars/Ram, they can pull through.

On another note, I've been torn for a long time over which would buy/buy first: a Camaro or a Challenger. I love both, but in light of this I don't know if I could buy a car that the company which gave birth to it doesn't stand by it and show pride in it. Chrysler does.

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Okay, I can see the logic of why a "car guy" may want a 2 ton Camaro, on a very lonely, underused, assembly line dead. The question is, does this "car guy" want to see new and more appropriate Camaro developed?

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This is the thing. Zeta should be utilized until Aplha is ready. Since Alpha is no where near ready and we have geniuses wanting to kill the last of the Zetas, there'd be no replacement for at least 4 years I bet.

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From what I remember the Camaro only got produced on the old heavy Zeta platform because GM was so open about its development from concept stage onwards. Otherwise it would have met the fate of the other Zetas. I don't think killing the highest performance model really matters anyway in the grand scheme of things. Remember, GM NEEDS MONEY.